lack of sleep

Collette - posted on 12/02/2009

I agree with many of the previous ideas. You need to make sure they are eating at least one healthy and filling meal throughout the day and make sure they get a chance to run around-a lot. Also, if you've changed the diaper, determined they are healthy and are not teething or sick, then there is no reason he cannot cry it out. I agree two hours of crying sucks, but you have to think about the habit you want to instill. You can attempt to move your child out of the crib and put the mattress on the floor or get a big boy bed, and child proof the room so he can stay in his room and play when we wakes up in the middle of the night. Check with your ped for better ideas and remember that in the end, you have to be comfortable with the route you choose.

Crystal - posted on 12/02/2009

My daughter is now 19 months and she goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at 7am. She also has a 2 hour nap after lunch till around 2:30.



When she was 15 months we went through the stage of waking up at night. It started at 6:30am to 5:30am then on to 4:00am. Then on top of it she was skipping her nap to. I was going crazy! I had never been a fan of the cry out method, but our babies are smarter then we give them credit for. If they cry at night and you go in to put them back to sleep they remember that and they will do it again. If you don't go in they will cry louder or longer because they know Mommy will come to the rescue.



My mom told me going in was the worse thing I could do. By this age your child should be able to sooth themselves back to sleep if they do wake up. I know you said you have tried for a couple days but my advice don't give in. Even though every fiber of your being tells to to go to your childs aid when they cry fight it. It took 2 weeks but i finally broke the cycle.



Not only was my daughter napping regularly again but she was sleeping through out the night with out crying. And it is true overtired kids do not sleep well. Even now when my daughter is sick and I baby her and let her come to bed with me so i can watch her more closely when she gets better she pulls the same stuff but you have to be firm and let your child know you mean sleep.



It is not healthy for you to be up at such hours and you deserve the sleep and so does your child. So even though it seems horrible to let your child cry it out you are actually helping them. Children even babies need structure and you are the one who needs to enorce it. So I hope you try it again put in a week of crying it out and I know you will see a change. I hope I could help!

Lisse - posted on 12/02/2009

Hi there....

my first question will be how long are her naps during the day?? right now my girl has gone from 2 naps to 1 long one, between 2 and 4 pm.....

sleep time??? my girls goes down between 8:30pm and 9:30pm (today she is still up, unfortunately!)....sometimes she wakes up at 2am, takes HALF of a bottle or less and rolls back to sleep....then wakes up at 6am, takes another sip of her bottle, rolls back to sleep, wakes up at 7:15am, takes another sip.....ect....and, in between, my hubby wakes up at 4am to go to work, so I can really empathize!!!

my suggestion, first off, try to have her take naps - short ones - during the day, but nothing after 4pm... put her down for the day after 8pm, and give her a bottle of milk (I still put cereal in my girl's bottle) or some snacks before bedtime.... and as soon as you put her down, you go too!!!! you need some sleep as well..... :-)

Denise - posted on 11/22/2009

How is her sleeping patterns as for naps during the day? Is she taking long naps or short ones? Does she have a busy day during the day? Have you tried maybe using Johnson's Bathtime wash with your little one with her bath at nights? Maybe putting her down a little bit later? My little one still wakes up during the night, but to take a bottle or 2 and go back to sleep! Maybe you can try the bathtime wash at nights and putting her down a little bit later...maybe she is getting to much sleep already for her wanting to be up so early in the morning!

Amy - posted on 11/09/2009

You are not alone! Our son goes to bed around 8 or 9 pm and doesn't leave his room till about 6 or 7 am, and it took a while to get to that point.

Our son used to wake up every few hours, I encouraged it when he was young and I was still breastfeeding, I would feed him in my sleep, many nights I would spend the entire night in his room! When he got older, we would give him a bottle of watter at night when he work up, and that did help some. We also put toys in his crib to help entertain him.

Right now, he wakes up 2-3 times at night to play, some night's he'll sneak a noisy toy into his room and I'll wake up to "I'm a cow, MOO" over and over and over! He also was never much of a nap taker, he now takes one nap at about 2pm for anywhere between 30 min and 2 or 3 hours!

To start with I would suggest finding a leak proof sippy cup and fill it with watter and have it handy for when she wakes up. Don't take her out of her crib (or bed) and put the cup in her hands and mouth. That should help with the screaming and allow you to go back to sleep.

Have you tried routeans? Many people swear by them, you could try doing something to exhaust your girls energy (like running around at the park), give her a snack, then put her down for a nap. That works wonders for our son. Running around in the fresh air seems to really wear him out!

If that doesn't work, try putting some toys in her crib?

What worked for us in the morning was our DR said at his year apt that he could sleep through the night, and that we should let him scream it out, he must have heard and understood the dr said because that night he was an angel and since them much better!

Also He is in a toddler bed now, and that has not helped his sleeping at all, he is up for several hours at night playing with his toys, and during nap time, he doesn't always sleep.

I hope you can find some way of getting her to sleep! I know how hard it is, when I was breastfeeding I was waking up every night AND I am also the working mom (Husband is a stay at home dad), so I never got to sleep in or sleep period!

If nothing else seems to work, have you tried talking to her dr? They may have some soothing tech nicks that could help her go back to sleep at 2:30, and eventually not wake up at all.

Stephanie - posted on 11/07/2009

Boy howdy - I'm slow today since our daughter instigated a 2-5 am party last night, so I can empathize, at least a little! She does wake about 1/2 of nights, but we just take her to our bed and sleep well. Last night, for some reason, bouncing up and down and repeatedly pointing to our noses, mouths, ears, etc was on the agenda... I have noticed that if she goes to bed too early, or if she doesn't eat well at dinner or have a snack a bit before bed, she doesn't sleep through the night.

Our daughter sleeps 10-12 hours total during any 24 hour period, but my sister's daughter, who is ~20 months now, often sleeps only 8-10 hours per 24 hour period and seems totally fine with that. If your daughter is just a kid who needs less sleep, you can try shifting her sleep time - when we have shifted sleeping times with our daughter, it seems to take close to a week for her to adjust completely. Good luck!

Alison - posted on 11/04/2009

How old is your daughter? She looks young in your profile pic.

Is she happy when she wakes up?

Would she sleep in your bed?

What is she like during the day? Have you tried taking her for a walk or a carride to get in some naps?

Dana - posted on 11/04/2009

She might be going through a growth spurt! My daughter now 3 would wake up in the middle of the night (but only for about an hour) and then I would read to her and give her a warm bottle of milk and a cuddle and then back to bed. She could also be getting teeth if she doesn't have them all yet! Try the warm milk 7oz warmed up for about 50sec depending on your microwave and a cuddle and story and see if that works.



Good luck, I know it's hard.... I am just lucky my son doesn't wake up and if he does he just lays there.

Cathralynn - posted on 11/04/2009

Ahhh....the most I can do is sympathize. I was getting upset cause my girl was waking at 4:30! Umm only ideas I have are to agree with you on the napping thing. An overtired baby has worse sleep problems at night, so as much as she'll nap during the day the better I think, at least til she catches up and then I still would do one nap a day. Many kids do this until school right? Most times I tell moms an early bedtime will help babies sleep longer, but your already there!



Like I said my girl was waking at 4:30 for bout a week before the time change, it was totally due to teething and that's when her meds were wearing off. I would rub a little oragel on and then lay her back down and pat her butt til she calmed and then leave for work. But that's knowing my girl has been putting herself to sleep and sleeping thru since six mo. You already tried cio and that wasn't helping. So my only ideas are distraction. I would treat the early morning wake up like you said, like its the middle of the night. Get a dim lamp or nightlight and use that, don't turn on bright lights. Be calm and quiet and handle what needs to be handled, like changing, meds whatever. I never bed share and cannot put my girl to sleep and sneak her back into her crib, so my policy is to not hold her to sleep. I put her in her crib and rub her back/pat her butt til calm, not asleep and let her do the rest. If she's not crying or cannot be calmed try toys!



To keep my girl on a schedule to help my husband in the morning, he's on his own, we never got her before six. I put soft toys and books in her crib and if she woke early she learned to play and then eventually would go back to sleep. When we were teaching her this we also didn't want her to cry, we wanted her to be happy in her crib. So she has a soother crib toy that has lights and plays music and she can turn it on herself. If she cried, we would run in and push the button and she would get distracted and watch that. We also have a toy that plays a light show on the ceiling, but that's for emergencies cause she can't turn it on herself. They both are timed and turn themselves off. Maybe something like that for your lil girl? To teach her to calm and entertain herself if she doesn't want to sleep. Sleep will come if she's not upset. Good luck, it will pass!

Alisha - posted on 11/03/2009

Hi there,

During the summer my son thought it would be "fun" to wake up at 330am and play for the entire day! I feel your pain. What i did was i made sure that that even though he woke up at 330am, he still was on the same schedual as if he were to wake up at 8am. Him waking up only lasted about about 2 weeks...which then led to waking up about every 3 hours so he goes to bed now at 8pm, waeks up in the middle of the night and we just bring him to bed with us. It works for us, adn hes up at 630am which is great for us.

Another helpful hint that seemed to get him to sleep longer at night was to add more fuller snaks during the day...it seemed for my son taht the more ate during the day the longer he slept.